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Sunday, June 14, 2015

Asus ROG G551JW Laptop Full Review

Hi guys! Last week, I haven't posted anything regarding game updates and what not. I was busy tinkering my new Gaming Laptop! I was so excited, I played and worked with it for a very long time before even sharing it to the world.

I originally planned to get a Asus ROG G501JW, an entry level gaming laptop for just work purposes and a little Dota 2 gaming. On May 17, my father called from the Middle East and told me that he's on the store. He was told that the G501 is out of stock and they only have the G551 and G750 series. I was like, okay just get the G551 series, and he did! My father arrived home on May 21 with the ROG laptop, Yay! Next day he asked for the refund + travel fee, Nay! I paid him 72,000 PHP (around 1,580 USD). hahahahahaa So basically, it took me 3 weeks to fully transfer all my work files and few selected steam and origin games from my PC to the ROG (Republic of Gamers).

A week ago, Asus just launched these new models (G501, G551, G750) in the Philippines and the SRP for my G551J is 69,995 PHP (around 1,540 USD). The J has more variants like JK, JW, JZ, JX and I got the JW variant.

Specifications

Asus ROG G551JW.

15.6" IPS FHD 1080p display.

Intel i7-4720HQ @ 2.60 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M

12GB DDR3 RAM upgradable to 16GB

2.7kg in weight.

1TB Hitachi HDD

128GB Kingston SSD.

Others check the link below.

Screenshot from CAM software of NZXT.

Out of the Box

My father disposed of the main box that holds the laptop, free Asus ROG Bag, free the Asus ROG headset and free the Asus ROG mouse. He left it on the store because he could no longer carry it to the airport. But I did get the laptop box and the manuals, peripherals and all the freebies.

These are the images father sent me after he bought it in Middle East. The bag was so dark that I did not include it in this collage.

I got the Arabic keyboard since I got my father to buy from the Middle East. I personally don't trust re-sellers locally since they take freebies away and charge the same price! So sad!

First Start Up

The first time I turned on the computer it immediately booted up to the Windows setup. I just have to enter the time, location, laptop name, username and password. After the setup, it booted to windows 8.1 with all the pre-loaded drivers and all of the Asus software. Activation was quick, I just have to go online and click activate windows. The Windows Office was on a separate disk but I haven't installed it yet.

It says Windows 8 because the OEM and license is Windows 8. But the pre-loaded software is already updated to windows 8.1 so, YES! It has the start button!

Standard Start Up

Having a 128GB SSD as an OS Drive with Windows 8.1, the startup lasts somewhere between 2-3 seconds! Shutting down without updates is the same. Restarting is around 3-4 seconds!

Gaming

This gaming laptop is not for hardcore AA games. Well, it can run AA games but not ultra and definitely not 1080p, if you want 60fps. But it's sure great enough for small to mid games! Mid games like Dota 2 and The Sims 4!

My first time gaming on Asus ROG G551JW was amazing. It was my first time playing on an IPS display so my usual game like Dota 2 and The Sims 4 looked a bit more amazing and vibrant! It was my first time to really see the big difference between my Samsung 23" LED display and the 15.6" IPS display. All of the graphics looked more enhanced than the ordinary LED display.

Sorry no benchmarks here, I'm a PC gamer. Gaming laptop for me is just to cure my gaming withdrawal when I'm on the go. Okay?! Sorry.

Update 06-15-2015: Dota 2 benchmark is added below.

Battery Life

Up to 3 hrs browsing, and up to 1.8 hrs gaming. Charging starts ONLY if below 95% battery life. Therefore, "plugged in, not charging" is not an issue.

Temperature

Temperature is one of the great concerns about gaming laptops or laptops in general. It's too complex so I will write my review in an array of items. Ambient 30-33c is the average temp in the Philippines and the 26-28c is under an air-conditioned room.

Idle or browsing

On Battery

Ambient 30-33c, No Laptop Cooler = 50-52c

Ambient 30-33c, With Laptop Cooler = 48-50c

Ambient 26-28c, No Laptop Cooler = 46-48c

Ambient 26-28c, With Laptop Cooler = 38-41c

Plugged In or Charging

Ambient 30-33c, No Laptop Cooler = 52-54c

Ambient 30-33c, With Laptop Cooler = 40-44c

Ambient 26-28c, No Laptop Cooler = 48-50c

Ambient 26-28c, With Laptop Cooler = 40-42c

Gaming

Ambient 30-33c, No Laptop Cooler = 75-78c

Ambient 30-33c, With Laptop Cooler = 74-75c

Ambient 26-28c, No Laptop Cooler = 74-75c

Ambient 26-28c, With Laptop Cooler = 71-75c

Notice that on gaming, the temps are almost the same whether or not I'm in an air-conditioned room and with or without laptop cooler. This is because the laptop is using 100% of the resources at all times. Temps doesn't differ much from being on battery or under plugged in or charging. When you play an AA game on it's best recommended settings and when it reaches 78c, you will notice a lag. It will reduce it's performance to compensate with the temperature. When the temperature drops, it will perform back to it's normal state. And the cycle will continue around the 70-78c...

So the question is, can you feel the heat on the keyboard left side? My answer is YES for Gaming and when you are in an ambient temperature of 30-33c. The heat exhaust is positioned on the QWERTY side of the laptop, so it does hurt while gaming! BUT only in and ambient of 30-33c.

Gaming on 26-28c, the 75c is not noticeable on the QWERTY side of the laptop. You can feel the heat but it doesn't feel like your hand is being fried like a bacon. It will just feel like a cellphone's heat while charging.

Design and Material

I like the design and color; black and red. The metal on the surface and the cover are amazing. But for a daily usage, the metal is a bit problematic for cleanliness. Fingerprints are everywhere and I feel nasty about it. So, I made a solution. I covered the keyboard area with Black Carbon Sticker! I'm happy about it, but I also want to cover the LED ROG Logo area but the design is curved and the color looks really good to patch it up. Cleaning it will be a pain. But messing it up while covering with Carbon will be more painful. So, I decided not to cover it and just the keyboard area and touch pad area.

I also covered my keyboard with silicone keyboard protector to avoid sweating the keys and dropping food "debris" lol! Forgive my acetate, I didn't have any silicone protector at that time. Forgive my silicone, the store doesn't have 15.6" keyboard protector. So yeah! hahahaha

Overall

Overall, Asus ROG G551JW was a great buy for me. Especially now that I can now work and play on different locations. My gaming pc, Bumblebee will not be flooded with work stuff but now a pure AA gaming machine! And this ROG laptop will be a full work and some play machine. The heat is there especially that I'm in the Philippines and it is hot but tolerable. For 1,580 USD laptop, it's the most worth it laptop ever! I've had laptops before that is worth far less than a quarter of it's price. They all die before a year because I game on it and then it can't handle it. I hope this can handle my usage and will last longer than my previous ones. Cheers!

you don't need vsync on.. it's only there when you need it.. vsync is the fix for screen tearing. Unless you experience it then you turn it on... downside of the vsync is that it will limit your framerates to 60fps... as you can see on the screenshots above 60fps are already super smooth and graphics are all maxed out.

Great blog. Thanks, this helps me alot.Where in middle east did you get the laptop? What ROG backpack is included in the package? Too bad you didn't add the backpack pictures. I'm also planning to get a Asus G501jw or G551jw and saw some good deals on pcx.com.ph and villman.com or I might get it also overseas.What other games did you try to play on the G551jw?

I did notice a little bit of annoying wifi signal but that's because I 2 wifi connections (Smart LTE and PLDT). The only issue I got from it is it takes time, like around 5 seconds, to have a stable connection with my PLDT which is about 3 meters far from my location and with a lot of wall obstructions. But with my Smart LTE wifi, it connects immediately since the router is beside my laptop. Those issues I got from the preloaded software Windows 8.1 but when I updated to Windows 10, the issue seemed fixed. :D Cheers

Hi , I have a question here, so i was thinking about getting an ROG laptop for myself and I wants to use it for long term like for few years, and I am using it for two purpose , one is for my design stuff like adobe and 3D max and another one is for my GAMING !! So i was considering two model of ROG which is G501JW and G551JW for myself, so im seeking for your recommendation on which one should i go for.. Thankyou

Honestly, there's not much difference between the 2, specs wise. But, I would prefer the 501 since it's lighter and has no disk drive which I don't need. I just got the 551 since the 501 got out of stock. You need to check their specs sheet and decide which ones you'll need and don't between the 2. Cheers! :D

also, if longevity is what you're looking for, I think you'll need the highest version of this the g751 series. It has a separate cooler for the videocard and you'll need that for your 3d rendering and gaming, if you'll be using that everyday.